Scotland, and Tanner, by an error easily accounted for, makes him bishop of Rochester ('Roffensis'). Since, however, the bishop of the Irish see is an historical personage, of whom even the armorial bearings are preserved (Cotton, l.c.), it is perhaps most probable that his earlier namesake is purely fictitious.
[Bale's Script. Brit. Cat xiv. 64 (vol. ii. 216 et seq.) ; T. Dempster's Hist. Eccles. Gent. Scot. ii. § 196, p. 107, ed. Bologna, 1627; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 131.]
BROWN or BROUNS, THOMAS (d. 1445), was bishop of Rochester and Norwich. Nothing is Known of his parentage or birthplace, nor of what university he was LL.D. As, however, Cardinal Repington, bishop of Lincoln, collated him to the subdeanery of Lincoln in 1414, and as Repington was chancellor of Oxford, it is probable that Brown was of that universitv. In 1419 he was made archdeacon of Stow, m 1422 prebendary of Biggleswade, in 1423 prebendary of Langford Manor (all in the diocese of Lincoln), in 1425 prebendary of Flixton in the diocese of Lichfield, in 1427 archdeacon of Berkshire, and in 1431 dean of Salifibnry. He held all these preferments together till his promotion to the see of Rochester in 1435, being at the same time vicar-general to Chichele, archbishop of Canterbury. Can Thomas Gascoigne be referring to Brown when he says, in his usually extravagant manner, 'Novi unum fatuum qui habuit unum magnum archidiaconatum et xii. prscbendas magnas' ? (Loci e Libro Ventatum, Clarendon Press, 4to, 1881, p. 43). In 1429 he was elected to the bishopric of Chichester, and was approved by the king ; but the pope, Martin V, quashed the election, and he had to wait four years before he was raised to the episcopate. He was consecrated bishop of Rochester at Canterbury on 1 May 1435, and next year, while attending at the council of Basle, was translated by Eugenius IV to the bishopric of Norwich. Henry VI taking offence at this, Brown submitted himself to the king's pleasure, and with so good a grace that his apology was accepted, and he was allowed to take possession of his see. In 1439 he was sent as ambassador to negotiate a peace with France, and to make a commercial treaty with the Flemings. His episcopate is uneventful, except that he was a peacemaker on the occasion of a serious dispute between the citizens of Norwich and the priory. Possibly his award may have been displeasing to the convent, for soon after this the prior behayed with exceeding disrespect to the bishop, and the quarrel ended in an appeal to Rome, when the prior was compelled to submit to his diocesan. Brown died at Hoxne on 6 Dec. 1445, and was buried in the cathedral. His will has been preserved. In it, besides other legacies, he leaves money for the support of poor scholars at both universities.
[Le Neve's Fasti, ii. 40, 79, 567, 634 (Hardy); Rymer's Fœdera, x. 433, 608, 724, 728, 730; Rolls of Parliament, v. 13; Blomefield's Norfolk, iii. 533; Stubbs's Reg. Sac. Anglic.; Brown's will, Lambeth Reg. Stafford, 1316; Genealogist, v. 324.]
BROWN, THOMAS (fl. 1570), translator, of Lincoln's Inn, translated into English 'A ritch Storehouse or Treasurie for Nobilitye and Gentlemen, which in Latine is called Nobilitas literata, written by a famous and excellent man, John Sturmius, and translated into English by T. B., gent., . . . Imprinted at London by Henrie Denham .... 1570.' This volume is in the Grenville Library in the British Museum. In a note appended to it Mr. Grenville says that it does not appear who T. B. was. A Thomas Brown who wrote some verses prefixed to the 'Galateo of maister John Delia Case (Casa) archbishop of Beneventa,' translated by Robert Peterson of Lincoln's Inn, gentleman, a work printed in 1576, and described in Herbert's edition of Ames's 'Typographical Antiquities,' is probably Thomas Browne (d. 1585) [q. v.]
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit. 131; manuscript note of Mr. T. Grenville; Herbert's Ames's Typographical Antiquities, ii. 903.]
BROWN, THOMAS (1663–1704), miscellaneous writer, son of a farmer, was born in 1663 at Shropshire in Shropshire. He was educated at Newport school, in the same county, whence he proceeded in 1678 to Christ Church, Oxford. Here his irregular habits brought him into trouble. The story goes that the dean of Christ Church, Dr. Fell, threatened to expel him, but, on receipt of a submissive letter, promised to forgive him if he would translate extempore the epigram of Martial (i. 32), 'Non amo te, Sabidi,' &c., which Brown promptly rendered by —
I do not love thee, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell ;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love thee. Dr. Fell.
Brown afterwards made amends by writing the doctor's epitaph. Some English verses by Brown are prefixed to Creech's translation of Lucretius, 1682, and there is a copy of his Latin verses, entitled 'Soteria Ormondiana,' in 'Musæ Oxonienses.' He contributed some translations from Horace to 'Miscellany
